


In The Cards

by ladyillusion



Series: Divergent Worlds [8]
Category: Cardcaptor Sakura, 幽☆遊☆白書 | YuYu Hakusho: Ghost Files
Genre: Alternate Universe, Audio Format: MP3, M/M, One Shot, Podfic Available, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-06-22 06:29:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19661728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladyillusion/pseuds/ladyillusion
Summary: “The Windy,” Keiko read out from the bottom of the card as she lifted it out of the book.She almost dropped the card in shock as it began to glow in her hand. And then a bright light consumed her vision and she felt the rush of a strong wind pass by her, ruffling her shoulder-length brown hair.“Oh, no!” she cried as the cards, caught in the wind, began to lift from the book. She tried to grab hold of some of them but the wind pushed her onto her backside. The cards spun in the air as if caught in a tornado before the wind swept them toward the open door of the basement. Keiko watched, horrified, as they disappeared into the house beyond.





	In The Cards

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is available in audio form for those who would prefer to listen rather than read. Please note that this is a text to speech recording, which means that there may be some issues with it.  
>  [Stream or download MP3 via Google Drive](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yGgsP9wDe9RLBjy_bMSVOrBcoMTI4sqa/view?usp=sharing)

“Are you sure it’s down here?”

Keiko poked her head out of the basement door to call into the house.

“There’s just a lot of books here.”

Her friend Kuwabara stepped into the hall, a dust rag in his big hands. Despite the fact that he’d been doing most of the heavy lifting that day, his orange pompadour was still perfectly in place. Keiko couldn’t say the same about her own hair. She was sure that it was sticking out at all sorts of odd angles.

“Yeah,” Kuwabara said. “Those are my dad’s books. It’s gotta be down there. We’ve looked everywhere else.”

“Okay. I’ll keep looking.”

Keiko retreated back down the basement steps. The dim room was crammed with bookshelves. The bookshelves themselves were stuffed with books, ageing dusty spines neatly squeezed into the shelves.

She peered around each shelf, searching for any sign of the box of photos Kuwabara had been searching for. There were no boxes, though she did see some loose books here and there.

Keiko began to pick up the books and tuck them into the bookshelves. They were cleaning, after all. It seemed to her like the basement shouldn’t be exempt from their efforts.

One of the books caught her eye. Keiko ran her fingers over the raised edges of the drawings on the cover.

This book didn’t look academic, as all of the other books did. It looked more like a fantasy book of some sort.

Or perhaps a teenage girl’s diary. The book’s covers were sealed shut by an elegant clasp in the shape of what Keiko thought could be a sleeping black dragon. As she fiddled with the clasp, she wondered if Kuwabara would let her take the book. Surely his parents wouldn’t have need of it. Maybe it had belonged to Kuwabara’s sister Shizuru, but that didn’t fit with what Keiko knew of the brown-haired hairdresser. She didn’t seem like the sort of girl to indulge in fantasy books.

The clasp came free and Keiko opened the book. Her eyes widened in surprise at what she saw. The book had no pages. Instead, the inside was hollow, with a set of beautifully designed cards resting there.

It was immediately obvious that they weren’t ordinary playing cards. The first card on the stack had the picture of a woman who appeared to be sleeping. The image looked hand-drawn, but not in a clumsy, scrawled way. Instead, it looked like the artist had taken the time to get every little detail just right.

“The Windy,” Keiko read out from the bottom of the card as she lifted it out of the book.

She almost dropped the card in shock as it began to glow in her hand. And then a bright light consumed her vision and she felt the rush of a strong wind pass by her, ruffling her shoulder-length brown hair.

“Oh, no!” she cried as the cards, caught in the wind, began to lift from the book. She tried to grab hold of some of them but the wind pushed her onto her backside. The cards spun in the air as if caught in a tornado before the wind swept them toward the open door of the basement. Keiko watched, horrified, as they disappeared into the house beyond.

“Keiko? Keiko?”

Yusuke’s concerned voice came down the stairs. A moment later, his loud footsteps followed as he ran down them.

“Shit!”

Keiko let out a startled yelp at the new and unfamiliar voice. Floating above the book, level with Keiko’s nose, was what appeared to be a child’s toy. It was the size of a kitten, with tiny wings and a black snout. And red eyes which were currently glaring at Keiko in a very unkitten-like way. The little black wings beat at the air as the thing hovered in place.

Yusuke rounded the bookshelf to see Keiko sitting on the floor, book open before her.

“Keiko?” he asked. “What happened? There was this wind and… and what is that?”

He pointed at the floating black thing, who turned those baleful red eyes on him.

“I’m the guardian of the cards,” the thing said, sounding haughty. “And you woke me up,” it added grouchily, turning those eyes back to Keiko.

“Um, sorry?” Keiko said awkwardly. She didn’t know what else to say.

The thing rose a little in the air, snout pointing at her nose. “You should be sorry,” it informed her. “You’ve released the cards, you stupid girl. Now you’re going to have to catch them all and put them back in the book.”

“Hey, hey, hey, wait a minute,” Yusuke said. “What cards?”

“Catch them?” Keiko asked numbly. “But they’re just cards. It’s not a big deal.” She smiled nervously at the creature.

“Not a big deal?!” the thing demanded. “Those cards are the life’s work of a powerful magician! They’ll create chaos in the world if you leave them out there!”

Keiko looked down at the one card that remained in her hand. The Windy.

“Magician?” Yusuke asked with a snort.

“I’ve got to catch them?” Keiko asked uncertainly.

The little creature crossed it’s tiny arms (or legs?) across it’s chest. “Yes,” it said.

“How?” Keiko asked as Yusuke leaned over to look at the creature. He grabbed hold of one wing. The creature let out an indignant yelp as Yusuke lifted it up to get a good look at it. It’s short little legs flailed furiously as though it were a mouse running on an exercise wheel. Keiko could see that tiny claws protruded from all four of it’s legs.

“What are you?” Yusuke asked suspiciously.

“I’m a dragon, imbecile! Let go of my wing!” the creature snarled. Smoke blew out from it’s nostrils, hitting Yusuke in the face. Yusuke coughed, grimaced and released the dragon’s wing.

“Kind of a puny dragon,” he said as the dragon settled on the floor next to the book.

“You haven’t seen my real form yet,” the dragon informed him icily. “I’ll show you ‘puny’ then!”

“I think you’re just full of hot air,” Yusuke said dubiously. “Any time, runt.”

“How do I catch the cards?” Keiko inquired once again.

“With the cards,” the dragon said dryly. One stubby arm pointed at the card in Keiko’s hand. “You’re lucky that you kept hold of one of the elemental cards. They’re the most powerful.”

“Keiko? Yusuke?”

Kuwabara’s heavy footsteps thudded down the stairs. “You still down here? Come on, guys. I need some help up there…”

Kuwabara rounded the bookshelf. His dark eyes turned huge at the sight that greeted him.

“Great. Just invite everyone down here. So much for discretion,” the dragon muttered.

“If you’d kept your snout shut, we probably could have winged it,” Yusuke pointed out.

“It’s talking,” Kuwabara said weakly, his face very pale.

“I’d like to shut it up,” Yusuke grumbled.

Keiko looked from the dragon to Yusuke, then to Kuwabara. She picked up the book and closed the cover before tucking the Windy card into her pocket.

“What did you mean when you said you need help up there?” she asked Kuwabara.

“Um, some kind of a mini tornado blew through the house,” Kuwabara said. “It’s a complete mess. We were nearly finished, too. Sis is gonna kill me.” After a moment, he pointed at the dragon. “It’s talking,” he repeated.

Keiko snatched up the dragon, careful not to squeeze it, and rose to her feet.

“Hey! Hey! Let me go,” the dragon protested. “Personal space! Seriously…”

“Oh, sorry…” Keiko released it and the dragon floated up to eye Kuwabara.

“Huh,” was all it said before it flew around the bookcase and vanished.

“Okay, what?” Kuwabara asked faintly. “Can someone explain this to me?”

After a quick explanation (light on detail, as they actually didn’t have a lot of detail), the trio headed upstairs. Keiko’s eyes bloated to the size of dinner plates as she took in the chaos waiting for them. There were items strewn in the hallway that definitely didn’t belong there. Magazines, cushions, a worn old blue t-shirt and an empty biscuit packet were just some of the items she stepped over.

“Where’d that creepy little thing go?” Yusuke asked from behind Keiko.

Keiko entered the kitchen to find it in a similar state to the hall. Cupboards had been blown open, their contents strewn across the floor. Keiko sighed and started to put everything in order.

“Hey, girl.”

Keiko jumped as the voice hailed her. It was the little dragon. It was sitting on the windowsill above the sink, red eyes fixed on her.

“It’s Keiko,” Keiko said. “My name is Keiko.”

“I’m hungry. I want something to eat.”

Keiko glanced around at all the mess waiting for her. “I’m a little busy,” she pointed out.

“I’ve been asleep for a hundred years,” the dragon pointed out in return. “I’m starving.”

That sounded logical. “Okay. Um, what do dragons eat?”

“Anything we want,” the dragon said dryly. “But I prefer cakes.”

“That’s not very healthy,” Keiko muttered as she searched in the refrigerator. She’d brought over a batch of cupcakes for their lunch today and she was sure that there were still a few left over.

As the dragon nibbled on the cupcake, Keiko cleaned up the kitchen.

“What’s your name, anyway?” she asked the dragon as she sorted out all of the loose items into piles. “You never told me.”

The dragon turned a lightly-frosted snout in her direction. “It’s Hiei,” it said, before sticking the spoon into the cupcake again.

Keiko wanted to ask if the dragon was a boy or a girl, but that seemed rude. She guessed that it was probably male, as Hiei sounded like a male name.

The doorbell rang through the house. A moment later, Keiko heard Yusuke swear. She stepped out into the hall to see the two boys eyeing the door with trepidation, as if it were about to explode into a shower of wood-splinters at any second.

“It’s not Shizuru, is it?” Yusuke asked uneasily.

“She’s not supposed to be home for another hour,” Kuwabara said in a small voice. “I’m so dead…”

Keiko shook her head in exasperation and strode toward the door.

“Keiko, don’t—”

Ignoring Yusuke’s protest, Keiko flung the door open. Standing on the welcome mat was the prettiest young man she’d ever seen. Long red hair fell past slim shoulders. Leaf-green eyes sparkled from an elfin face. He was wearing a school uniform that Keiko recognised as the uniform from the school Yusuke and Kuwabara attended.

“Good afternoon, miss,” he said. “Is Kuwabara here?”

“Shuichi!”

Yusuke pushed past Keiko to greet the newcomer, who smiled in recognition.

“Hello, Yusuke,” he said. “I was on my way to the library but I thought that I would drop in for a moment.”

Jade eyes looked past them to see the mess in the hall that no one had gotten to just yet.

“I see that you still have quite a task on your hands,” he said, his lips curving upward with amusement. “Would you like an extra set?”

“No, no.” Yusuke tried to wave away his offer. “Don’t worry about it, Shuichi. We know you’re busy. We’ve got it.”

Keiko heard Kuwabara mutter, “Dude, I don’t get what he sees in you…”

“Wait, you’re Shuichi?” Keiko asked, the puzzle pieces falling together in her mind. Yusuke had mentioned someone named Shuichi. Rather often. And at length.

“Yes. My name is Minamino Shuichi. I am Yusuke’s classmate,” the young man informed her.

The classmate Yusuke had a massive crush on. Keiko’s face split into a bright, evil smile.

“I’m Yukimura Keiko,” she said. “I'm Kuwabara’s neighbour. We could definitely use your help, if you really don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

Shuichi stepped inside. From behind his slender form, Yusuke glared at Keiko as he shut the door.

Leaving Shuichi to the boys, Keiko went straight back into the kitchen.

She heard Yusuke’s voice filter in from the hall. “Seriously, Shu, you don’t have to stay…”

Keiko was pleased that Yusuke was in a relationship with the redheaded boy. From what Yusuke had told her, she was sure that Shuichi would be a healthy, stabilising influence on her tough, black-headed friend.

Yusuke’s home life wasn’t great. His father was absent and his mother was an alcoholic. His only friends, up until he’d begun to pursue Shuichi, were Keiko and Kuwabara. He never made much of an effort to befriend anyone.

Until Shuichi. According to Yusuke, the studious redhead was even more socially isolated than Yusuke was, in his own way. Keiko looked forward to getting to know him.

Keiko looked around the kitchen in search of her other new acquaintance. To find that the dragon, Hiei, was gone. The plate and spoon sat on the counter, flaky cupcake crumbs abandoned.

Where was he? Surely he would be smart enough to stay out of Shuichi’s sight. Hopefully.

Keiko dug out the Windy card from her pocket and stared at it. It had sure made a mess of Kuwabara’s house. Were all the other cards as destructive? What were they capable of?

“Excuse me.”

Keiko spluttered as she looked up to meet emerald eyes. Shuichi stood in the doorway, a curious expression on his face.

“That is a most unusual card,” he said. “Is it part of a game set?”

“Um, yes.” Keiko slipped the card back into her pocket, safely out of sight.

Shuuichi’s eyes seemed too focused and too serious for her liking.

“A game,” he said.

Feeling trapped, Keiko stepped toward him, intending to leave the kitchen. She had to find Hiei and make sure he stayed out of sight until Shuichi was gone.

Shuichi moved aside, giving her the room to pass by him. But, as she did, he put a hand on her shoulder.

“You should take care,” he said. “Even a game can be dangerous.”

Something about his voice had changed. It had a slight accent, as if he were accustomed to speaking a dialect Keiko wasn’t familiar with. It sounded antiquated.

“What?” she asked. Maybe she hadn’t heard him right.

“Excuse me?” Emerald green eyes blinked in confusion. His hand slipped from her shoulder.

“You said something. Something about taking care?” Keiko asked.

“Did I? I’m afraid I don’t recall.”

Shuichi’s expression was open and completely honest. Confusion softened the fine bones of his features.

“But you…?” Keiko was thoroughly baffled now.

“I came to offer my help with the kitchen,” Shuichi said.

“Oh. Ah, yeah. Thanks,” Keiko said awkwardly. “I’ve started putting everything into stacks according to where they go. I’ll be back to help you in a moment. Thanks.”

She left Shuichi standing in the kitchen, a pensive, bothered look on his face. He raised one hand to press his fingers to his temple. “I really don’t…” he murmured, his voice low.

Tucked atop the refrigerator, unnoticed by either girl or boy, the black dragon Hiei watched from his perch, still as a statue.

“Kurama?” he muttered. “That’s you, isn’t it?”

Shuichi began to pick through the items Keiko hadn’t touched yet. There was still a perplexed crease between his brows.

“You’re still mostly asleep, aren’t you?” Hiei continued. “Well, that’s just great. Leave me to deal with all this…”

He slumped, glowering at the redheaded androgynous form obliviously plucking cups from the floor and stacking them.

This wasn’t right. The cards weren’t supposed to be released. That girl wasn’t supposed to be the one to inherit them.

But, if she were capable of catching them, then she would certainly be a worthy master, Hiei mused.

But catching the cards wouldn’t be the only task she’d need to fulfil before she could inherit them. She’d also have to convince both guardians that she was strong enough to be their master.

She’d have to earn Hiei’s respect, which was no easy task. Then she’d have to also earn Kurama’s respect, which would be even more difficult. Kurama was still very attached to their former master. No matter how soft and polite his false form seemed, the moon guardian wouldn’t make it easy for this girl.

She was in for more of a challenge then she knew.

* * *

Koenma sucked smugly on his pacifier as he watched the scene through the magic bubble hovering in the air in front of his high chair.

His former guardian Hiei was visible on the top of the refrigerator, his snout still tipped with white icing. Kurama knelt on the kitchen floor, diligently gathering up loose items.

Not much had changed with those two, Koenma reflected fondly. It was quite normal for Hiei to sit on the sidelines and leave Kurama with the menial chores.

Koenma watched as the brown-haired teenage girl walked in and joined Kurama. The guardian passed her a set of plates and she pushed them into one of the cupboards.

That girl was (hopefully) the new card master. She wasn’t the one he’d been hoping for, but he thought that she would do. Her magic wasn’t as strong as that of the orange-haired boy, but she looked both kind and determined. Both were necessary attributes to have when dealing with the cards and their temperamental guardians.

Her true test would be gathering up the runaway cards. With any luck, along the way, she would earn the respect of his guardians.

If not, well, then she’d lose the cards and the guardians to another who was more suitable.

“Is that her?”

His current sun guardian, Botan, poked her blue-haired head around the bubble to stare into it, her fuchsia eyes wide.

“That’s her,” Koenma confirmed in his childlike voice around his pacifier.

“Isn’t she cute?” Botan squealed in excitement.

“Cute is not a requirement for being the master of the cards!” Koenma retorted indignantly.

Botan giggled and pinched his chubby cheek. “If it was, you’d still have them,” she laughed.

Koenma scowled as the bubble popped and the kitchen scene disappeared.

“I’ve got your dinner, master,” Botan sang. In her hands she held a tub of baby food and a spoon.

Koenma’s mood darkened. Going through childhood for a second time was the most humiliating, undignified experience he’d ever had. If he’d known that it would be this bad, he would have thought twice about reincarnation. It had seemed like such a genius idea at the time…


End file.
